Bali
After 2.5 years of covid lock down i was finally allowed to indulge in a trip. Just 10 days this time. My primary objective was to get back into free diving mode . Maybe spearfishing and some wildlife photos. The spearfishing guys were not in Amed anymore , my first stop . So I enjoyed free diving and chilling sucking in this tropical setting. Indonesia makes us Europeans low income folks feel like millionaires . A day in a bungalow with a scooter , 3 great meals plus beer is the price of royal with cheese . The staff and people are sweet and awesome with good spirits . I traveled to Nusa Penida, an island south of Amed to try to catch on camera the manta ray and mola mola . Unfortunately full moon and high sea didnt allow that. 10 days is definitely too short but I made plans for a much longer stay in the fall .
freediving Dahab
i finally found an excuse or a kick to go to tropical places. I always found it boring unless at some moon parties. Surf windsurf and kite surf are fun , it is a long learning curve, heavy expensive clumsy gear to carry around travelling. Like skiing. Scuba diving seems a bit boring. Freediving is cheap, light , gear easy and business starts at 5 meters down …it is fully immersive, immediate, intense and extreme. Freediving is a huge work on self. Isolated, pressure , depleted of oxygen in a complete new environment with weird noises, odd body feelings . loosen up or freak out and turn around. People don’t go anywhere deep unless fully calm and tuned up. It is an intense forced meditation. Perfect for my anxiety and other PTSD like syndrome. I started in Dahab, south Sinai. It is a bit random, a friend mentioned it , easy and cheap to get too. They have a blue hole which goes straight to 95 meters down. The entire fishing village is a world center destination for freediving, scuba diving. Dahab used to be part of the Nabataean Kingdom , mostly bedouins having a good time from 300 B.C until 106 A.D when the Roman took over and ruined everything . Then the Ottoman came around and imposed their rules, culture and religion. The israeli came in after WW2 and now Egypt. There is an odd mix of culture , rather entertaining. South Sinai is the only part of Egypt situated in Asia. The peninsula acquired the name due to the assumption that a mountain near saint catherine monastery (Roman invasion) is the biblical mount Sinai. Assumption largely contested . The ancient égyptien and bedouins called it “ta mefkat “ or land of turquoise. Turquoise mined not in this turquoise water but in the red limestones mountains you see in the background since at least 3000 BCE. Logic was strong back then. Dahab is mostly bedouin and less Egyptian it seems, a more chilled attitude , very bohemian, the town is very cozy, like a small fishing port without much concrete. People are very nice and everyone is settled back. The water is turquoise, the mountains are red, multicolored fishes everywhere, corals and good food. There is prayer 5 times a day. And plastic trash and other cig butt all over. By comparison Sharm el sheik seemed more like a concrete jungle, expensive, check points everywhere and stressed out Egyptians. I took my classes at the dahabfreediving center who are an awesome cosmopolite crew of passionate freediving bums. The center and classes are tight and very pro. Each coach have their own style which makes it fun . Some were better at pushing me other good at relaxing me and showing me good technique. My progress was a bit slow due to my sinuses exploding a couple of times. It was very fun and i am ready for more.
Dahab is very often windy so windsurfers and kitesurfer have a blast
One of the main subject of the free diving courses is safety. Diving partner need to be able to dive 1/3 of the diver goal depth and follow the ascent looking for signs of loss of motor control or black out and act accordingly . It also helps the diver on the climb to relax. It’s nice on the climb up to see a relaxed body and I usually mimic it , neck and torso loosen up. Tension and stress use oxygen …
the blue hole goes from abruptly from ankle deep to 95+meters. All the big guys hang out there . It is a great spot outside of town. 
that girl is climbing back up from 60 meters which starts being extreme
On the last day of Miguel Lozano workshop we all had a bedouin dinner in the desert
my first shot was this. Dahab is beautiful and cute but the trash management is a disaster. Trash don’t get picked everyday and the cats dogs goat and wind get into it first. It is everywhere. I dont think this will be resolved until the international industry stop producing plastic or other non biodegradable products. 
Arctic photos of Orcas
I grew up watching Jacques Cousteau video, swimming with whales was always a dream of mine. I took the excuse of a needed photography course to do so. Editing and Taking pictures of orcas underwater in the darkness of the arctic winter sounds technically challenging enough. One of the best in marine photography Darren Jew was the host as well as a marine biologist who gave us a lot of betas, science and datas. It took me 2 days to get used to the underwater gear and I’m still learning the tricks of pushing the technical limits of my sensor as well as the do’s and don’t in post editing. This week was absolutely stellar, visually brilliant , and very cold…swimming with whales and orcas is spiritually enriching.
The orcas for the past 7 years had been in around Tromso, in the ervfjord. However, they follow the herrings. The water in ervfjord was 10c too warm, the salmond farm are depleting the water of oxygen and the herrings usually change location every 10 years or so, which one had them to move up north east to skervoy this year is unclear, but we had to move camp to Havness. we spent most our days on a boat, it took us 1 hour to go from Havnnes to Skervoy, once around skervoy, we were hoping to find them feeding on a ball bait of herring which makes it easy to take photos. When they are chasing salmond or just socializing, it is very difficult to get in the water on time before they vanish especially when they are not in the mood. Most the time we end up jumping in, maybe take a shot, back on boat, cold as hell, find a few other, jump in…and so on…
Havness to scurvy one hour frigid boat ride
just learking around
humpback whale deep in
Darren Jew
But on the 3rd day freezing our asses off , jumping on and off , getting blurry shots, we found a fish net full of herrings with a dozens mostly adults male orcas roaming around. It was epic, special. We swam in the warmth of the water for 2 hours and all got pretty rad shots…
Of course, The arctic offers us an exploding sky which adds to the dreamy unreal trip i am on
a few facts
there are about 50 -100 K orcas worldwide. 3 types with 3 different diets including transients orcas eating mostly marine mammals like in antartica and residents orcas eating mostly fish like in norway or canada. In canada , the wild chinook salmond is vanishing due to salmond farms, orcas don’t eat farmed salmond and are found dead, starvation. In ersfjord near tromso , salmond farm sucked the oxygen out of the water, the water temp raised, herrings moved north so did the orcas and us. In the world, there are still some moronic idiotic humans who think those animals belong in a pool, they are still captured worldwide. Each pods speak a complete different languages, 2 different pods can’t understand each other, when they capture orcas, very often , they mix different Types (transient, residents, off shore) which have different diet but also from different pods so they can’t communicate. Those morons try to give fish to transient orcas and they die…they are called killer whales, they are big and dark but they have a big heart. they are closer to the dolphin than anything else. Catch 22: in norway, fishermans want to bring the whale and orcas quota up because, they say, they eat all the fish. The whale watching tourism bring more money than fishing. So it was refused. But, there are some abuse and more and more people harass those animals, chasing them, trying to touch them….it is bad ethic. I saw it.
Summer-gallery
I spent 1 month volunteering in Namibia-naankuse, south-Africa-Kevin Richardson and Zambia. I found volunteering is the best way to go for countries in southern Africa. The money goes straight into conservation effort, working and spending time with local is very enriching, i get a better understanding of the conservation work and limitations , and I get a more intimate experience with wild species..
A few shots of california via a road trip from Vermont…and some summer cham shots…
christopher moroch
Roads
Season 2016/17 is officially the worst since i arrived in chamonix in 2005. People do ski and have fun but i would need the same inspiration than when I ski in August or July. It isn’t there so i work. My seasonal job this year is transfer driver. It translate into probably 30 000 Km since i started. I like it, i like the road. It unfurl the mind with its load of oddity and glitches. Like a Lynch movie. It is a good recipe to clear the brain up. or at least for me . Everything seems to make sense. almost.
ak
ak
ak
ak
ca 101
ca 395
ca 395
ca 395
ca 395
ca 101
ca 101
ca 101
lofoten
lofoten
lofoten
japan
iceland
iceland
iceland
iceland
CA 395
iceland
iceland
iceland
iceland
CA 395
CA 395
CA 395
CA 395
CA 395
namibia
namibia
namibia
namibia
CA 395
namibia
namibia
namibia
namibia
namibia
namibia
namibia
year 2016
the good stuff of 2016
I bought 3 music albums.
Le trio Joubran-as fâr and Majâz. Amazing music from palestine!
radiohead a moon shaped pool.
ben milstein-untitled EP : sweet intricate electro
I bought one ski movie: Sam favret : backyard: sweet film showing the chamonix backyard and sam’s crew. Amazing imagery and editing.
my other favorite ski movies were : jordan manley: china and jordan manley: Iran
Manley is still my favorite .
and also: la liste where jeremy heitz show us how to ski steep today.
2016 started at the infamous berghain
All kind of Chamonix happened.
chamonix, france, cosmique couloir
couloir alley italey
couloir alley italey
lofoten norway
lofoten norway, sauna-bath at lofoten ski lodge
lofoten norway
tokyo japan
tokyo japan
hakuba japan
hakuba japan
california
la grave
Namibia
To get away from it all i opted to volunteer and work toward conservation , rehabilitation and research at the N/a’an ku sê foundation in Namibia. Go on their site at http://naankuse.com , they describe their mission and goal, very impressive. I was introduced to it via the great projects who specialize in volunteering trips around the world
I spent a little time at the sanctuary a 3200 hectare property sanctuary for animals in need of rescue, rehabilitation and sometimes relocation. Food prep, animal walk, game count , set up camera trap, animal feed, are a few of the the thing to do there.
Then i went to the very scenic and impressive Kanaan Desert location , 33000 hectares to establish there an unfenced wildlife reserve, which is based on scientific and sustainable management practices and which provides refuge for a suite of endangered species such as cheetah and hyena. The work there are taking down fences, game count, camera trap management, data processing, locate hyaenas , cheetahs or leopard tracks, poop or marking in order to define a pattern , install a camera trap and connect the dots…the project there is mostly on assessing the population of spotted hyaenas outside of game park.
after that i went to the neuras conservation and wine estate, 14,500 hectare. A sort of oasis in the desert with a vineyard , the longest canyon in the world. The work there was mostly like at kanaan, walk a lot and figure out the hyaenas. Study that hasn’t been done since the 90’s…how many hyaenas outside of game park?
It was an amazing and fulfilling time with amazing people, animals and scenics. A much better option, i think, than expensive safaris or backpacking in that region. It is also sending a positive sign to the tourist industry in regions where there is still wild life and must be protected.
My experience in namibia with locals as well as participating in conservation was far more enriching than any backpacking trip i did anywhere in the world. Tourism and backpacking is to me so passè and overrated . Participating is much better than just being a consumer…the great projects organizations has many trips around the world where you can participate and mix it up with locals as well as learn and have an over all good time. Visit them…
zebras
pool
river
river
dead vlei
dead vlei
dead vlei
dead vlei
dead vlei
viyard
namibia highway
pizza night
braai
braai
sandboard
breakfast
oryx
oryx
spring box
springbox
oryx
oryx
ostrich
oryx
vervet monkey
vervet monkey
samira was brought in young, people kept her as pet and fed her veggies and dog food. cheetahs are strictly carnivores …she was malnourished. she is now the oldest cheetah with the loudest purr
this is gobelina….brought to the sanctuary as a part of 5 lions . gobelina and male had to be separated , they were fighting. then a honey badger cut meatballs balls. Meat ball died of infection.
leopard
jackal
La grave
Not finding what i need in Cham i escaped once again to middle earth, the center of the world: La Grave. My first time there. La Grave feels isolated, a small french village surrounded by gigantic jagged peaks. The world capital of soul-skiing. I surfed Joe Vallone ‘s couch. Joe Vallone is pretty much a local. His flat is an ode to skiing with past memorabilia , hundreds stories. I am a thousands light years from holly-cham, back to the source maybe. Finding skiing. Him and Ptor Spricenieks take me on a stroll without using the postcard lift to a corner of their playground along the flank of the Tabuchet. In a couloir where no one ever goes. A lost couloir . A possible first descent? How could that be? It has everything of a classic. We skied it leisurely with a sunset light. Apres ski at the skier lodge K2 bar, a Place filled with ski history. This was a classic ski day, reminiscing those days i had in the eastern sierra california , reminding me why i am a skier.
ski day start with coffee at the leisurely time of 11 AM with Ptor Spricenieks and joe villain
break
the summit. i could see mont blanc
Ptor Spricenieks
Ptor Spricenieks
joe vallone
joe vallone
joe vallone
Ptor Spricenieks
joe vallone
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- a lot of things define joe vallone but I’m sure anyone could guess who i am talking about with that picture
Lofoten Norway
Lofoten being talked about in the Chamonix ski scene extensively every goddamn year, i naturally want to go .The Chamonix february crowd was not inspiring so Minna and myself decided on an early arctic trip hoping to capture some magic winter light and powder with my lens. We stayed at the Lofoten ski lodge link. which is pricey for a dirt bag like myself (i almost puked in my mouth when minna talked about the price) but worth every penny. Seth Hobbit’s knowledge on the area is worth a million $ and Maren will make sure you are very comfortable. It is full board: breakfast , lunch , waffle apres-ski and dinner with local fish and every thing fresh and tasty superbly cooked by their chef. The lodge sits on the water with comfortable cabins spread around. At night the sun wind comes in. The skiing is spectacular, couloirs everywhere, hanging faces, big bowls of powders, steep stuff all around fjords. I was here to make good images so we were chasing the light more than the great classic or first or gnarly . The weather was difficult , typical lofoten changing weather at first to consistently grey later. The snow was also variable. I didn’t get “the shot” but i will surely come back for more light and powder and maybe for skiing something big, steep and gnarly. The changing weather and light make the place magical and mystical. Skiing lofoten and staying at the lodge is truly a priceless ski dream experience.
The Host: Seth, Maren and family.
Minna Riihimaki diving in the ocean outside the sauna. ((which we did every eve))
Sun wind and the lodge
lodge
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- caught this morning for dinner tonight
ski
ski and views.
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- Michelle
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- Michelle
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- Michelle
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- Ross hewitt and Michelle joined us
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- Ross , Michelle, Minna
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- michelle
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- Ross
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- Michelle, Minna
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- minna riihimaki
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- mina riihimaki. lofoten. norway
Every morning view from the lodge.no filter.
Fish heads
surf
views
Hakuba . Japan. 2
We had to sit thru a few rain days. Drinking beers, netflix, taking the train to the beach on the sea of japan. Visiting temple. eating fresh shrimps. Eat the deadly blowfish. Rain in Hakuba mid february is not completely unusual. Yet, Can it be global warming. We burned jet fuel to fly half way around the world to find rain. I find this uncomfortably amusing.
The snow finally came in. We got a good taste of what that Japow forrest storm riding is all about. It is good indeed. Fluffy pow. space out trees. Beautiful.
next day was a pretty good japanese blue bird.
we arrived in Tokyo a day late at night after a day skiing. We stayed at those capsule hotel so typical of japan. Japanese being civil, well mannered the place is pleasant …no loud douche banging on walls, destroying things , puking all over… it is well organized which makes it a good cheap option in the center of tokyo. Tokyo was a bit overwhelming after a week in the mountains…I thought of Japan being an expensive destination, it was not. The plane tickets were 400 euros on turkish airline which happens to be a great airline. The lodging in Tokyo at the Oak Hostel Zen on the first night and at the Shinjuku Kuyakusho-mae Capsule Hotel were 25 euros a nights. In Hakuba we stayed at the west coast inn for 307 euros for 7 days. All those were very clean and comfortable. We bought points for lifts which ended up costing 20 euros a day. The transport is where we spent the most , to and from tokyo was 30 euros by bus and about 80 euros taking the bullet train…the food isn’t more expensive than average europe or USA. So it was a very affordable and pleasant trip. Japeneses are amazingly welcoming and sweet and very helpful. We left our stuff unattended many times at busy train stations or subways and never feared to get them stolen. Amazing.
Hakuba-japan
I am currently enjoying Japan skiing. We went to hakuba on a low snow year thinking we could ski the higher peaks. However, as we rolled in so did the snow/rain. It isn’t Japow yet but it is on its way…
iceland
This is a video my friend Ben edited with footage we shot while traveling around iceland….A little skiing and lots of fun …
Iceland from Ben Briggs on Vimeo.
All the way to 2016. NYE at Berghain–wopwoop
Despite the immense lack of snow, we managed to get a descent amount of good skiing and good fun. Nate Wallace was often my motivator…he is always up for something…
Dusan benes on the entreve
a wing suiter off brevent
Black crows ski entertainment apres ski party at grand monte
I also had a memorable christmas celebration night with amazing friends— ending at 12 noon the next day…
and then the epic new years 3 days party marathon at Berghain club in Berlin
Back when i was introduced to freeriding , it was all a punk rock-death metal-greg stump-blizzard of ahh’s ode to hedonism sung by all sort of interesting human-characters-mutant-animals. Today, the “incorporated” idea of alpinism sort of took over (ruined it all), trading the emotionally heretic disordered poetic expression for the technical cold ultra light gear-carbon-time A to B-how many verts/day -angles/airbag and whowhat blah blah- orderly talk , mostly conservative boy scouts on a very expensive pee contest in an exotic location…boring. SO, I miss the wilderness…where is Greg Stump? take me back to the zoo !. I haven’t been to a hedonist party with a proper sound system, fascinating freaks and tribal tekno since november moontribe 2011. The idea of being in a dark room in the middle of a 4 corners Funktion-one stacks of bass and the legendary industrial dark and dirty tekno berghain is known for, makes me horny. seriously. i would trade a night with Charlize Theron-johnny depp for a night at Berghain. Berghain’s door policy is almost as famous as its A-list roster of DJs. The club’s main bouncer, Sven Marquardt <-link to brilliant sven photography, a bearish East German photographer with a face covered in barbed-wire tattoos, is a celebrity in Germany and referred to in newspaper headlines as “the lord of the night.” resisting gentrification is awesome but I am not into that 2 hours line to -maybe- not get in -thing….
My old time socal-desert party debauchery friend Francis kirigin -HERO_ who is currently working on a phd in computational biology in Berlin told me she could get me on Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails music designer playing berghain as SONOIO for NYE ) guest list. I booked my ticket in the next minute.
I knew i was gonna get good sound and good tekno in a dark room. I was not expecting the full religious experience i got. i was immersed in a concrete nave of darkness, brutal techno holds you by the throat , parties tangles over several days .
In the past two decades, the city’s tradition of sexual permissiveness, lax drug policing and left-wing, anarchist politics blended together to create the most sexually adventurous, unconventional party scene in Europe.The city’s historical poverty meant high unemployment and large numbers of people with no reason to wake up early on Monday, fueling the appetite for marathon-length parties and a dislike of closing times. “It’s a fuck-off to the rigid capitalist version of time that is enforced in any other city in the world , They’re truly saying that money is of secondary importance, that it’s the experience that matters.”
This stands in contrast to the big-business barcelona /ibiza/vegas/miami EDM scene and events, which have introduced a new generation of young (or not) people to electronic music, albeit without the sense of danger and edginess that characterized the rave scene of the Nineties.
By contrast, Berlin is scrappy, grimy and chaotic. Cover charges and drinks are still cheap, the venues look run-down and authentic, and you’re less likely to see a celebrity than you are two people fucking at the bar. For people hungry for a taste of underground tekno culture, the lure of this seemingly unspoiled scene can be hard to resist. “There’s the legend of Berghain,” DJ Harvey says. “It’s a cross between The Lord of the Rings and the Stonewall Riots, and then there’s the stories about the guy who turns up with frozen shit and uses it as a dildo.”
the club is located in a former power plant near the Berlin Ostbahnhof railway station. The building is distinguished by its enormous dimensions, and accommodates an 18-meter high ceiling dance floor The interior’s minimalist design is dominated by steel and concrete.
The construction is similar to that of a cathedral of the Middle Ages
There’s something almost spiritual about the atmosphere.
The club contains a “cavernous” main room, as well as a smaller upstairs space called the “Panorama Bar”, which is decorated with large-scale Wolfgang Tillmans photographs
the décor is spare, the walls are mostly empty. the slightly less Dante’s Inferno-esque upstairs space, makes use of cages that formerly housed electrical equipment.
It has the look and feel of an abandoned building.The building is so large and maze-like, you can discover new stairways and rooms even after spending a few days in the club.
first absorbed in the cloakroom ,a huge room where stands a huge mural of Polish artist Piotr Nathan called “Rituals disappearance “.
On top of the grand iron staircase to the dancefloor , i was struck by the onslaught of tekno escaping the huge function speakers as by the beauty of the place: in its 18 meter ceiling , the club of the cathedral-style concrete, in which throng around 3000 clubbers every weekend . Shrouded by darkness , there is a choice between melt into the sweaty body waves rippling on the dancefloor Berghain tekno or join the Panorama Bar, mostly playing tek-house.
Photography is strictly forbidden inside Berghain, and no mirrors or reflecting surfaces can be found anywhere in the club.As many leathermen chaps strutting in the aisles of the club as hipsters chewing imaginary gum , kissing couples in the corners, ravers licking on ice creams , girls sprawled on swings, dready Erasmus students stuck closer to the speaker, and even at certain times, old coked up bankers at the bar.
Everything happening at berghain stays at berghain “. This tacit rule let you flow into the party without fear of tomorrow, the absolute prohibition of taking pictures and no mirrors inside the club is the promise of an enclave cut off from the outside world and its standards. .In the shallows of the building is home to a third club : the Lab.Oratory, a maze of narrow rooms reserved for men. Lab.Oratory, is known as Berlin’s most extreme sex club. The club hosts regular nights called “Yellow Facts,” ” Sewer System” faustparty ….
Anyway…i had a blast. A real routine breaker, an absolute trip challanging my daily normalcy….the only pictures i have are the one of Fran taken fast on the 2nd while going to catch my train and plane after I exit the club where i was since the 31st…very standard almost dull pictures in contrast with the Lynch-Felliniesque place i was in for 35 hours. but this is why i like them……
worth noting: Sven, the door curator at berghain is a brilliant photographer. You can see his work and maybe a little of berghain…http://marquardtfotografie.com/galerie/
Summer/cosmojazz-autumn/USA – – -r
My night shift job took out most of my summer. Enjoying simple walk in the mountain making cairns some yoga, peace and music.
The heat wave aiguille du midi
Andre Manoukian a notorious french jazz man created the cosmojazz festival in chamonix. Every year He brings a very eclectic selection of talented musicians from around the world to play music-jazz outdoor in altitude and in town . I dont know much about jazz but every year my preconceived idea of what jazz is has been baffled. Manoukian makes sure his selection includes a very wide -multi cultural- all embracing type of what could be defined as jazz music. from listening to voodoo at 2000 meters in a natural amphitheater with view on the mont blanc massif to a hanging pianist in the middle of town, it has always been peculiar, mystical and stunning.
my work schedule didn’t allow me to see most of it. Here are some pictures of what i enjoyed…
The gangbe brass band from Benin…
A band called Moriarty near the ending tongue of the argentiere basin , once again i was astound. Moriarty is the lead character in “on the road” kerouac. her voice is folkish redolent of joan baez, they play xylophone, tambourine, double bass, guitar, harmonica, suitcase drum, music box, etc…the sound is a little of folk, country, blues, jazz…in a natural amphitheatre at 2000 m on the edge of a crumbling glacier that would add some sounds,sometimes. With 4000 people who walked an hour to get there , some soap bubbles and the sun. It was free, poetic, innocent and magnificent .
The road trip took us to palestine. With the 3 palestinans brother the joubran and the iranian percussioniste yousef hbeisch. They play the oud. The oud is a sort of guitar with an oriental psychedelic sound. It was invented somewhere around syria, iraq, palestine,egypt. The legend say it was invented by lamech the sixth grand son of adam . The joudrans brothers are virtuose with it. Their father is the most renowned stringed-instruments maker in palestine and in the arab world. Their mother sang the muwashahat. 3000 years of history and culture seemed to emanate from each notes. They took us on a voyage to palestine and thru the arab culture. It was rich, peacefull and dreamy. A guy called jimi hendrix said “if there is something to be changed in the world, then it can only happen through music” .the weather being unstable it wasnt up high in the sky but in town.
walking, making cairns for my fallen friends and enjoying food and company.
Back to california. surf. bike. meditation . yoga. climbing and all around peaceful enjoyable simple time.
back in europe with a race course, family time and a avi-crevasse rescue refresher and some walking around
Norway, Finland
Chamonix being the bastard child which sprungout from a gang rape by british, french and scandinavians, it is only logical for me to go visit some of the origins. Norway. That is beside the constant social media bragging about that ski paradise somwhere far up north. Minna Riihimaki’s plan of going late may was working with my schedule so i jumped on the occasion despite being somewhat late for skiing even for the arctic. Upon our arrival we were taken by local crow Thor Falkanger deep in a melancholic forrest somewhere around moody tamok in his parents’s completely off the grid cabin. A 1965 nothern california hippy dream come true: grass roofed no electicity, none of that electronic air pollution such as wifi or tv, no running water. The water, house and sauna are heated with local wood. The water is taken from the close by river, the food can be fished or hunted around. A very comfortable , soothing and quiet situation. Skiing was not hapenning locally due to weather so We went skiing in the chamonix finish mafia’s birth land : Finland, Kilpisjarvi With skipe Oivo and Mikko Juntunen. We then Travelled back to tomok, tried to ski and almost all got taken down by an avalanche like bowling pins. skipe lost one ski , all his stuffed wached down hill . Decidely too hot. We Travelled up north to Lyngen,Lyngseidet… try to ski ended up fishing instead.
We then drove back to tomok. We Tried to ski again… We Scored some midnight sun runs which are a photographer dream come true, from 9 pm to 5 am is a constant magic light sunset sunrise moonrise moonset. Outsanding. My [#no filter] pictures look like they are photoshoped. Trip Done. it was More of a fishing/ road trip than a ski trip . Nothern norway at this season is very unusual: A forever day still life painting of an arctic jungle with jagged snowy peaks of sort . And well, truly a (potential) ski paradise . That is not a lie. I didnt see the night for 10 days, i couldnt wait for that darkness again. ….
TAMOK
KILPISJARVI, FINLAND
BACK TO TAMOK
Magic mountain lodge, Lyngseidet fishing dinner and other wandering
back to Tamok. midnight sun riding #no filter
the end
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iceland
Easyjet 140 euros return ticket geneva -Reykjavik could not be ignored. I mean…Bjork… . My skiing social networks feeds are filled with Norwegian imageries and other exorbitant Svalbard dream trips. Iceland wins. This mysterious snowy volcano-island in the middle of nowhere way up north with unpronounceable words fascinates. The people seem to be very liberal not so narrow minded religious or sexists: not douchebags land. They came out of the economic crisis with pride bailing out the people and kicking out the banks: I appreciate that and happy to spend my money there. I talk to Ben Briggs who seems very enthusiastic. So much that he takes control of the entire organization. I end up in a RV with 3 funky Britts i don’t know and one crazy Czech guy. We didn’t have goals or objectives. We just heard tales of a big skiable volcano in the south west, legends of road side couloir descent to the ocean in the north and some vague descriptions about good stuff in the east. The RV is the best cheapest option we could think of for this type of trip. Iceland is a 1400 Km circle we can drive around and stop when we please. The best idea really: Iceland has natural wonders and curiosity at every turn of the road: water falls, hot rivers, fartsmoke machines, hot tubs and roadside ski lines. The highest mountains is a volcano in the south west , we were shut down by poor snow coverage and cold wind. After a long road and a blizzard we stick around the northern troll peninsula a few days hoping for a window to ski which never came. We managed a few descents but nothing great. The best was on our way back to Reyk thru the east where we found a pyramidal mountain filled with powdery couloirs. The trip was officially a ski trip but really ended up being a nice sometime hectic drive around a beautiful country with fun new friends, joking/goofing around, playing poker wilst discovering an enchanting island filled with geological oddities, dreamy landscapes, inter winded elements water fire ice earth all in one place. soothing energy. It felt like being in a pre-holocene time travel …I surely want to go back, the skiing looks promising there, nothing to bragg about just simple good fun skiing, ski in ski out from the RV in an very breathless landscape all around the island. People told me iceland was expensive however it wasn’t anymore expensive than chamonix for restaurants/bars or any supermarket in france, the rv was 2000 euro for 10 days rented at geyser rental at the airport. And well, i was happy to give my money given their political stance. The people are awesome and very helpful very happy to see you sometime with a zest of burly humorous cynicism . ….
Waking up in the south west desert at the foot of the highest volcano we want to ski with the unspeakable name: Hvannadalshnúkur
The line we wanted to ski, half in the shade. High cold winds and poor snow lower down shut us down
hiking skiing to the top
tomas hiking the highest mountain (volcano) of iceland . hvannadalshnukur
hiking hvannadalshnukur highest volcano in iceland.
walking down hvannadalshnukur the highest volcano in iceland
Back on the road, pee/food stops.
fartsmoke machine along the way up north
Random water falls on the road
In the troll peninsula where we heard of roadside skiing to ocean and other splendid ski descent more inland. Unfortunately the snow coverage wasn’t optimum and we were there during a winter storm. It made it hard to move around with the RV. we still scored what we could. We didn’t have time to stick around and wait for weather to clear but I’m sure the skiing got pretty good there…
ben briggs coming from a run in iceland
ben briggs hking a couloir in iceland.
back on the road
At the boarder of the south east and the troll peninsula, we finally found this mountain. It had about 10, 6-700 meters 40 degree couloirs all filled with powder. A very good finish to our trip.
on the way to some powder in iceland
on the way to some powder in iceland
kinglsey young getting some easy turns in in iceland
there isn’t a bar or clubs in every town in iceland, but there are town outdoor swimming pool and tubs, naturally heated which makes it easier to roll around in a RV. There are also countless natural tubs and hot rivers…
Jordan Manley
Conditions in cham havent been very inviting so I’ve watched a lot of movies. After going thru my usual classic like “natural born killer” or “american beauty” and other “usual suspect” …i went back to the outdoor world and re watched All the Jordan Manley films. Those are still, by far, the best ski movies i have seen EVER. Well, to be fair, It is not your usual ski porn however they always take me somewhere with a well build atmosphere, good storyline and perfect imagery and most of all no bragging. They inspire me. To travel, go ski but also to maybe get into filming. More of a documentary/ski/poetic type stuff.
Unfortunately jordan is injured at the moment so nothing is new…but so good.
Argentina: A Skier’s Journey EP3 [Season 2] from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.
Dubai: A Skier’s Journey EP2 [S3] from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.
Baffin Island: A Skier’s Journey EP2 [Season 2] from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.
Iceland: A Skier’s Journey EP3 [S3] from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.
Japan: A Skier’s Journey EP1 S3 from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.
Arolla-Zermatt-cosmique ridge
I got another side job, this time as a sherpa on a Corey Rich -marmot-polartec shoot. Being around another successful outdoor director was interesting. Especially Corey who was a bad ass climber/photographer bum living in a van back in those glorious yosemite days. His path is very unusual. Talented and hard worker his resume now goes from shooting gnarly climb up trango towers to apple ads and other nikon ads…impressive. check his website: coreyrich.com.
This time we had a drone which was fun to see those operate up in the alpines…not so practical but if you know what you are doing the footage from it are sick! To operate them isn’t all what you need , sean the pilot is a full on engineer able to trouble shoot and fix whatever bug there is on the drone or connections or fix the liaison between the drone and the monitor and so on. full job. Remote control operator could be a good idea for a lucrative career if you are into that. it is going to blow up…
Warren Miller entertainment. arolla
I was invited to follow Seth Morrison, Tim petrick, Heather Paul Featherman, Tom Day, Matty Moo herriger , Mike hattrup on a warren miller film segment shoot here around cham. The guide was Miles smart and the sherpa oli herren. The weather forecast was the typical spring unpredictable crap but Miles was able to make the best out of that, taking the crew to
arolla
where we were able to skin up to the refuge des vignettes ski a bunch of cool stuff. Next days heli ski the local classic couloirs with local young gun Gille Sierro. Back to cham on a very hot spring high pressure we went with helis back to swiss land ski some other classics . I managed to forget my ski boots on one of those epic heli days, ah , i will put it on my tiredness after working round the clock between that shoot and my nightshift desk job . It was all good times and pretty fun for me( ordinary ski bum) , to hang with people who have been shakers and movers in the ski world for quite sometimes now… We met with 1 swiss legend André Anzévui , the first to ski the north face of cervin among other beautiful swiss summit…I love flying with choppers, i won’t deny that. I should get my pilot license. 70 000$ -anyone?
another swiss legend
Cedric Bernardini 